Beyond Imagining
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: No one ever told Ichigo that she'd be plucked out of her world and dropped into another, magically impregnated by a djinn, have a very special cute and adorable son that she would love more than life itself- and be pursued by a pervert hellbent on making her his Queen. Did she mention that she disliked Sinbad? Cause she does. My first bleach/magi. with a fem ichigo.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a fem Ichigo story. No definate pairings as of yet. **

**Ichigo is Aladdin's surrogant 'biological' birth mother in this. And since names have power, she's going by Shion.**

* * *

The first time that Sinbad ever saw her, was while keeping a bedside vigil over Aladdin after he had found and been rejected by his friend Alibaba.

He was sitting in a large wing backed chain next to the small boy's bed, where he had been ever since Ja'far and Morgiana had returned with the boy sobbing hysterically and calling out for his friend several hours prior. It was well after midnight, and he and the others of their rag-tag group had been trying- _unsuccessfully_, he might add- for nearly four hours now to get the poor boy to settle down and rest.

The child had finally managed to wear himself out after crying for so long, and had finally started to begin to doze off. However he was still fighting against his exhaustion in an effort to stay awake as Sinbad gently pulled the blanket up over him and started to tell him to let go and go to sleep when the boy suddenly jerked himself upright, his red rimmed eyes darting around almost anxiously as the man opened his mouth to ask him what was wrong when he felt it.

It was something..._.powerful_. So much so that it was disturbing to him.

Especially since he couldn't tell where the power was coming from. Was it near? Far? Where the hell did something like that even come from? Was it another magi? A magical item? _A person?_

The last thought filled him with both shock and dread.

Because if the power was coming from a person...just who were they? And more importantly; were they an enemy? Dear god he hoped not. He doubted that he could fight against someone wielding that much_ power_. And if the person was indeed an enemy... then his life and the lives of his friends could very well depend on him.

Looking back at Aladdin, he noted that the boy had slipped out of his bed and was slowly wandering his way across the room to the window.

"Aladdin! Aladdin come back!" He said in an alarmed tone as he noted that whatever the power was coming from was drawing closer and closer to their location. And then all of a sudden...he couldn't sense it anymore.

Feeling an icy sliver of fear curling it's way around his heart, he started to go and grab Aladdin and haul him away from the window so that he could go and search out the others.

His instincts screaming at him that there was safety in numbers when Aladdin raised his arms up from his sides and held them out in a beseeching manner at the same moment the shadows of the room seemed to gather together and then vanished, leaving behind a tall dark haired young woman who was standing mere inches from the boy.

"Aladdin!" Sinbad shouted in alarm as the dark clad figure moved slightly and bent down to pick the boy up as he uttered.

_"Mama." _

Shocking and maybe even dumbfounding Sinbad more than a little bit as the woman picked him up and held the boy close to her chest and let him wrap his arms around her neck and rest his small head on her shoulder as she absently rubbed his back in a comforting manner as Sinbad merely _gaped_ at the two like an idiot.

Of course he was more than a little bit shocked- stunned really, if the truth were told. Like all of the other magi's he knew of- he had assumed that since Aladdin hadn't spoken of any kin then he must have been an orphan. Apparently this was not the case.

Though he had good reason to be skeptical.

"Mama..." Aladdin's voice was muffled against the side of the woman's throat as he started to cry again. The woman didn't made a sound as she moved towards the bed, her turquoise colored eyes flickered to him for a moment, as if she were sizing him up. But then dismissed him as she finally reached the bed and wasted no time in turning the blanket back and slowly lowering herself and Aladdin onto the mattress and then pulling the blanket up over the boy as the child sniffled and hiccupped a few times before falling silent.

The woman just lay there with Aladdin tucked tightly against her side, his little arms still around her neck and her fingers absently playing with his hair as Sinbad watched the two warily and opened his mouth to ask her if she really was Aladdin's mother- but abruptly snapped his mouth closed when she softly shushed him and then reached out and patted the chair next to the bed that he'd sat in minutes earlier, indicating that he should return to it.

And he did as she bad him to, but..._slowly_. And more than a little bit cautiously since he still didn't know anything about the woman and that made him ill at ease.

Once he was seated again though, he felt a strange ripple of energy surround them all and was more than a little bit irked to find that she had placed a barrier around the three of them.

Though he didn't quite know why.

But after a little while he settled down enough to return his vigil upon realizing that the woman and Aladdin both were asleep, figuring that the morning would bring him some of the answers he sought.

* * *

He must have dozed off sometime during the early morning hours.

Which was beyond stupid of him to do when he should have stayed awake and alert at all times. At least until he knew more about the woman and could see for himself whether or not she was a threat to himself, Aladdin and the others.

He came awake with a start upon hearing a familiar warning growl from his friend and general, Masrur. And the familiar voice of his other friend and general, Ja'far, demanding to know who the woman was and just what she had done to himself and Aladdin.

Blinking sleep blurred eyes, he looked towards the bed to find that Aladdin was still sound asleep while the woman was several feet away from them both. Her body firmly placed between himself, and Aladdin and his two friends.

She had a long-ish looking curved, razor sharp knife held in one hand and was eyeing the two general's like she'd like nothing more than to skin them alive. And she probably would have made a nice attempt at it too- if Aladdin hadn't have rolled over and whimpered upon feeling that she was gone from the bed.

The moment that the sound escaped him, the woman turned her head and fixed her eyes on the boy and with one threatening sounding snarl cast in his friend's direction, tucked the blade back into it's sheath and then made her way back to the bed and lay back down. And let Aladdin partially crawl on top of her in his sleep as Ja'far slowly moved towards Sinbad and asked hesitantly if he was okay.

The man simply nodded his head and eyed the woman as she ran long slender fingers through Aladdin's dark blue-black hair and huffed softly as Ja'far then asked who the woman was and where she had come from.

Sinbad wasn't really sure how to answer him since he didn't exactly know those things either so he simply told his friend that Aladdin called her 'mama' and watched as the younger man's expression went from suspicious to utterly _gobsmacked _as his jaw dropped open as Masrur muttered something suspiciously like- "So that's why they smell alike."

As if that really_ explained_ anything at all to the other two men. Especially with the way that Aladdin was flopped over her, asleep.

Still...Sinbad supposed that it was as good a place as any to start. So he and his friends simply sat back and made themselves comfortable and waited for Aladdin to wake up. Which took another hour or so since the woman didn't move a muscle once the boy was in his current position, laying on her.

The moment that the boy was finally awake, he went about his customary greeting of them while the woman slowly sat up and rolled her shoulders a little bit as if they were stiff and ached some. Her long dark hair slipped over her slender shoulders as she moved, partially obscuring her face from view.

Not that Sinbad or the his friends needed to see it again- they had already seen it and come to the realization that the 'woman' was in all actuality little more than a _girl_. Not only that but she was quite lovely. Perhaps more so than many royals that they had met.

Once Aladdin had finished greeting them he then turned to the woman and grinned at her impishly and then moved back to her and wrapped his arms around her torso and rubbed his cheek against her bare stomach. "Momma, when did you manage to sneak away from the palace? Did anyone come with you or did you simply leave without telling anyone again?"

"Last night. And I don't owe anyone any explanations. If I want to leave the palace to visit my baby boy then _no one_ is going to stop me." The woman said, with an impish grin of her own.

"So you left without telling anyone."

"I did."

"You're so mean to your friends." Aladdin giggled. She merely hummed and ran her fingers through his hair again and then lightly grasped his arms and pried them from around her and told him to stand back and let her look at him for a few moments.

Aladdin quickly did as she bid him to and even did this odd little slow shuffle spin around before freezing up in place as she stood and put a hand on top of his head and seemed to be checking out his height. "You've grown some," She muttered earning a beaming smile from the boy. "You used to be much, much shorter. And you're hair's grown out too. Do I need to take some of the length off again? You'll wind up dragging it on the ground soon if you don't get it cut. And I don't want you to start tripping over it. And have you been eating enough? You look thinner than I'm used to seeing you."

"I eat just fine. Morgiana and my other friends have been taking really good care of me. Why I just met Mr. Sinbad and his friends and they're all very nice!"

The girl cast them a slant eyed look but didn't comment one way or another about what Aladdin had just said. Apparently she was still trying to determine whether or not she cared overly much for their presence near her_ young_ and _impressionable_ son.

"That's nice," She finally said after several moments or so. "We'll have to tell them thank you, won't we. Did you have fun on you're adventure out into the world?"

"I did! And I made a lot of friends! I'll tell you all about them over breakfast." The boy said excitedly as his mother smiled down at him before saying something about needing to take a bath. Aladdin nodded his head in understanding and waved at her as she headed towards the door, pausing for a moment to stare down Ja'far in a most intimidating fashion and sending the young man quickly skittering out of her way as she slipped out of the room with the promise that she'd return shortly.


	2. Chapter 2

The moment that the three were alone with the boy Sinbad cleared his throat and then asked, "So...that was you're mother, Aladdin?" He was unable to his curiosity from his tone as he regarded the child.

Aladdin smiled at him and chirped, "Yup! It's been a long time since we've seen each other."

"O-Oh? Is that because of...her life at the palace?" Sinbad asked.

"Something like that," Aladdin said cryptically. "I was sent away from her when I was about five to live with Ugo in the sacred palace. There...were some people who were trying to use me to hurt momma. And she needed to send me away until things calmed down because she didn't want me to get hurt or worse."

"I see," Sinbad said gently, his heart giving a painful squeeze in his chest. It sounded as if the girl was a noble of some kind with people after the throne. Perhaps succession fights had broken out? If so then it was understandable that she had sent Aladdin away. Succession fights were often littered with the assassinations and kidnappings of young children and adults. "You're mother must love you a lot."

"She does," Aladdin said with a smile. "She sometimes refers to me as her little star."

Sinbad blinked at the pet name that the girl had for Aladdin and smiled a little bit. "Oh? That's a peculiar name to call one's child."

"She calls me that because stars make her happy. She likes to sit in the dark and watch them a lot. I think that they remind her of home."

"Ah. And where is her home? She must miss it greatly if she's watching the stars."

"She does. And I don't know where it is. All I know is that she used to cry a lot because she was so far away from it. I think she missed her family and friends really bad. But...she stopped crying once I was a year, maybe two years old. I think that she finally gave up on being able to ever return home again." Aladdin said, his once happy expression turning unusually somber.

Tilting his head slightly to the side, Sinbad frowned at the boy's shift in mood and then slowly asked. "Was your mother taken away from her home against her will, Aladdin?"

The boy didn't say anything. But then he didn't really have too.

His expression was very open and he looked so, so very sad that Sinbad felt the nearly overwhelming urge to bare his teeth and snarl. Of course she was taken from her home against her will. He thought darkly before the unanswered question of _why_ slithered through his mind.

"Do you know why she was taken?" He asked. His tone just a smidge away from being demanding.

"I think it has something to do with _who_ she is and just _what_ she is capable of." Aladdin said with a frown as Ja'far finally chimed in and asked him what he meant.

The boy hesitated for several moments...seemingly torn between wanting to tell them and saying nothing at all. Before finally saying in an apologetic tone. "I'm sorry, but...I can't tell you anything more. If you want to know then you should ask her. But whether she answers you or not is entirely up to her."

Sinbad hid his disappointment as best as he could. Ja'far and Masrur did as well. Which was probably a good thing given how soon the door to the room opened up again and the girl peeked inside and motioned with her hand for Aladdin to come to her.

The three were eerily silent as the boy quickly crossed the room and took her hand and was pulled out into the hall after which they decided to follow. If only because they felt the need to stay close to the two and observe them.

* * *

Morgiana's reaction to the Aladdin's mother was the same as the men's had been. On one hand, she looked as if she wanted to rip the girl's head off. And on the other...well, she was very confused.

Aladdin's mother didn't seem all that bothered by the young fanalis's reaction to her presence. If anything she seemed pretty amused by it. While Aladdin simply frowned at his friend and asked her what was wrong.

Something that Morg wasn't sure how to answer. After all, like Sinbad and his friends she had assumed that the boy had no living blood kin. However after discreetly managing to sniff the girl while her back was turned, she seemed to settle down a bit and relax.

After which there were introductions, curtesy of Aladdin. Once they were in the inn's dinning hall the boy had quickly introduced them all. And then proceeded to fuss at his mother when she refused to give them her real name and simply told them to call her Shion.

Aladdin was in a right snit around the time that their breakfast was brought to them. The boy had his arms crossed over his small chest, and a scowl on his cute little face as their food was laid out in front of them.

"If you keep scowling like that, your face will freeze that way." Shion said in a teasing tone. Aladdin merely growled at her as she picked up a piece of fruit and bit into it.

"You should tell them you're real name." He huffed.

"Don't wanna." Was all she said as she reached out to playfully pinch his cheek. Aladdin simply swatted at her hand with his own and scowled that much harder.

It was adorable really. Especially given how the boy didn't have a dark or menacing bone in his body.

Everyone watched the two curiously. Noting how the girl, Shion, liked to tease Aladdin. In fact many of her interactions with the boy were mischievous and playful. There was maybe once where she used a motherly tone with him. And that was when he tried to swallow his food without chewing. Which hadn't ended well for the boy given the dark look that had crossed his mother's face when he had started to choke a little bit.

Because after Shion had thumped him on the back a time or two to help him, she then threatened to take him over her knee if she saw him do something so stupid again.

Aladdin was sulking by the time the meal ended. But at least the boy was alive and in one piece.

Though it was hard to tell who was more upset about the small incident. Aladdin or Shion. Finally after a little while, Aladdin seemed to perk up some and started to talk again. This time about some of his adventures.

Shion listened to the boy with avid interest, soaking up every minute detail that he spoke of occasionally stopping him to ask questions before then letting him continue.

She smiled when he told her about meeting Alibaba and Morg. And frowned a little bit when he told her about the Koga clan of the plains, and how they had been at war with the Kou empire. He told her a bit about how much fun he'd had with them, and how sad he was to be adopted by a woman named Baba- only for the elder to die of fatal wounds later.

Shion reached out and slipped an arm around the boy and gave him a brief hug once he finished telling her that Baba died. "I'm sorry about your other mom dying." She said softly as he bent her head down to press a kiss to the top of the boy's head.

Aladdin was quiet for a moment before then asking, "You aren't mad that I called another woman mama?"

"No. There's nothing wrong with having more than one mother or father figure in you're life. I myself when I was younger, before coming here- had close to twenty 'mothers' and at least just as many 'fathers'. I almost drove my poor dad crazy with the belief that I had replaced him. It took him a little while- and very many awkward and strange years filled with a lot of his non-stop antics, but he finally understood in the end."

"Pop-pop was weird." Aladdin muttered.

Shion got a comical look on her face for a moment and then shrugged as she simply said. "Yes. Yes he was. But he still understood that sometimes a person needs more than just one parent or pair of parents. It's nothing bad. If anything it just means that you have a big enough heart to love all of them."

"I'm glad that you aren't mad about my calling Baba, mama. She was really nice."

Shion hummed softly, "She must have been something really special to want to try and raise you."

"She was."

"Then I'm happy that you had her. Even if it was for just a little while." Aladdin tilted his head back and smiled at her and then resumed telling her stuff until he finally went over the events of the previous night- making sure to emphasis the mention of the bandits to his mother- at which point Sinbad started to nervously fidget as she cast him and his generals a menacing look over the top of the boy's head.

Once Aladdin finished telling her everything, the girl reached inside of her robe and pulled out a coin purse and then told Aladdin that she wanted him and his 'pretty' young friend Morg to go and do something fun, like look around the market and see if they could find anything.

Aladdin was more than happy to do as his mother bid and Morg….well, she already had a clue what was going to happen- and was more than happy to flee the vicinity under the guise of needing to make sure that Aladdin didn't get himself into any mischief.


	3. Chapter 3

The moment that the kids were gone, Shion turned her wrathful gaze onto them and slowly stood up from her seat and muttered, "_Un-fucking-believable_. I can't believe that you three would do something so stupid and irresponsible as to drag children into you're business concerning the bandits." Sinbad, Ja'far and Masrur all watched the woman warily as she started to pace back and forth along the length of the table.

Her fingers trailing along the smooth surface of the polished wood as she did so, making the three more than a little bit nervous given the fact that there were still eating utensils lying within her reach.

"Pardon me, Lady Shion. But I don't think that you really understand why we asked Aladdin to help us to begin with-" Sinbad said after a moment or two of watching the girl prowl back and forth in an agitation. He was hoping that by telling her his intentions when he asked Aladdin for help that she might understand things a little bit better and calm down.

Especially since he had no desire to be on the receiving end of the girl's wrath.

She paused and glared daggers at him as she snapped, "Oh I understand plenty. You asked him to help you because he's not just young and naive enough to think that you're his friend, but because he's a _magi _and he has power. So naturally that must give you some sort of _right_ to use him."

Sinbad stared at her wide eyed in disbelief. He couldn't believe what he was hearing from the girl. Was she insane or something? He hadn't asked Aladdin to help with the bandits to use him. The boy was a magi.

Magi's were protectors by nature.

It was only natural to ask one for help if it was needed- yeah okay he was starting to see what she meant by using the boy. But in all honesty that hadn't been his intention. And Ja'far had gone with Aladdin and Morgiana to keep them safe. So it wasn't as if he had literally tied the kid up and tossed him to the wolves without a means to protect himself.

He'd been perfectly safe the whole time!

Still...he could see the validity of the girl's claim. From another's view point it did indeed look as if he had been using the boy.

"Forgive me, Lady Shion. It was never at any point my intention to either place the children in danger or appear as if I were using you're son because of his status as a magi. I lost some of my ability to fight due to an...unfortunate incident with some bandits outside the city and you're son and Morgiana merely offered to help us with our task. I never at any point in time meant to place the two in danger." He said, his tone sincere as he stood up from his seat and bowed towards her to show his sincerity.

Her expression softened a little bit though she _still_ looked as if she wanted to do them some bodily harm. She huffed a little bit and waited to see if he was going to say anything else, and made a funny little growling sound when it became apparent that he wasn't until...

"Lady Shion, would you mind answering some questions for us?" The girl looked non too pleased to find herself on the other side of an interrogation. But then, she seemed like the type to have a lot of secrets. So perhaps she had a good reason for appearing so. "You see, Aladdin never mentioned that he had a mother at all until..." Sinbad started to explain when she cut him off.

"Until last night when I appeared."

Sinbad smiled a deceptively friendly little smile, hoping that she would be conned by it just like every other female that he came across. However from her less than kind expression- she wasn't the least bit taken in by it. Blast it all.

"Yes. Would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself? Aladdin mentioned this morning that you were taken against you're will from your home. And you live in a palace? And had to send him away when he was very young. I cannot help but feel more than a little bit concerned for not only his wellbeing, but your own as well."

She rolled her eyes but still started talking. "My name is Shion. I'm nineteen, unmarried- the former guardian of a dead country and it's people. I was taken from my home against my will during the last war, shortly after I was cut down- by Aladdin's djinn friend, Ugo. The palace that I currently reside in is one that I designed and built to sustain a large group of refugees fleeing from war torn lands in the past five years or so."

"I was made the Queen of my...kingdom four years ago and had to fight to keep the throne from some very, very terrible, sadistic and greedy people. I hate it. And the responsibility that the title comes with. I'd much rather travel the world and see and meet new and interesting people and things. I'm a merchant by trade and... _I'm bored._ I'm bored with this whole damned conversation. Don't bother asking me anything else."

Sinbad opened his mouth to say...something. But the girl decided to make it impossible for him to by standing up and simply walking off before he could so much as utter another syllable.

Once she was gone, Sinbad heard Ja'far mutter._ "Damn, another one."_ Under his breath and turned his head to look at his young friend curiously and noted the weird flush of embarrassment that colored the man's face under his scrutiny.

"A self made woman and queen... Interesting." Sinbad finally said more to himself than his friends. The gears in his head turning a mile a minute.

Ja'far and Masrur both exchanged a glance with each other, already knowing that Sinbad was thinking of acquiring the woman for one reason or another. One of which was _because_ she was the mother of a young magi.

"Sin...what are exactly are you thinking?" Ja'far asked in a slightly worried tone.

Sinbad merely hummed before saying, "Lady Shion is quite the puzzle. A self made woman. A queen. A merchant. And a young unmarried mother..."

"Uh..."

"Do you think she might like to ally herself with us?"

"No. No I do not." Ja'far said automatically, hoping to stop whatever madness had suddenly gripped his friend and king before the man's foolishness could come back to bite them later on. After all, as near as Ja'far could figure- if Shion had birthed Aladdin then it was safe to assume that she was powerful as well.

And probably trained enough to handle and defend against any kind of threat to herself and her son too. It would be beyond foolish to both assume that she would simply go along with Sinbad's idiot plots, and _not_ do them substantial damage for whatever Sinbad was planning.

"Hn," Was all that Sinbad said as he sat there for a few minutes longer before finally saying, "Do you think that the other general's would like to have a Queen?"

Ja'far's alarm suddenly sky rocketed and he started to chant, "_No, no, no, no, no, no, no_-" While Masrur stared at his king with wide, shocked, and uncomprehending eyes as it dawned on him what his king was thinking. And just how much Ja'far's _panic_ was warranted.

"I have been thinking of marrying for a while now. A man in my position tends to get lonely."

Like that was believable for even a second. Sinbad had more women crawling into his bed than any of the rest of them.

"And as Aladdin's mother, she's already proven her worth and her fertility. And we can offer her a place that would be safe for her and her son and their people."

Ja'far had stopped chanting by now and he and Masrur both were shaking their heads _no_. Thinking that their king had obviously lost his mind. It would be best to render his unconscious and send him back home for medical treatments to return the functionality of his mind to him before any harm was unwittingly done.


	4. Chapter 4

Ichigo wandered the streets of the shopping district, her turquoise eyes taking in the various wares with interest. After her little...well, could anyone really call it a talk? It was an interrogation plain and simple. And it had unsettled her greatly to try and blend the truth of how she had come to be in this strange new world with the lies that she had carefully thought up and put into place to protect herself and her son.

Wandering by a booth with exotic spices for sell, the smell of one of the spices present brought back old memories of her last day home. It wasn't a particularly fond memory. In fact it was the day that she'd lost everything. But it was really one of the few memories that she had left of her family, friends and former comrades.

So she tended to cling to it desperately, despite how hard she had worked to make a place for herself in this new world. Deciding to buy some of the familiar smelling spice to try and make some tea with, she waved over the vender and asked how much the stuff was.

Upon finding out the price, she pulled an extra bag of gold and silver and bronze coins out of her robe and then counted out the exact amount and handed them to him and waited for him to collect her spice and hand it to her. He asked if she was a local- apparently wanting to make small talk while she was present.

And upon hearing her reply, several of his other customers all looked at her in an calculating manner that could very well mean trouble for her if she stuck around. Once she had her spice, she politely bid the merchant farewell and then started walking again, noting that at least three men were following her at a discreet distance.

Wanting to give her the illusion of simply going in the same direction. It would have been a cunning ruse, if she hadn't become so familiar with the ambush tactics of bandits and thieves in recent years.

She'd have to be careful to stay away from any deserted alleys and such. But she was fairly certain that if they managed to seclude her somewhere that she could knock them out before they could hurt her.

Moving along the crowded streets, she wove her way in and out and around the people, the merchants and booths until she managed to lose the men. After which she then doubled back and started looking at the various wares again. She found a few other things, multiple colored soft linen's and silks. A couple of gem studded hair combs. Some scented oils. And jewelry.

Some earrings, necklaces, bangle bracelets, and anklets, some already made _men's_ clothing, and jewel studded daggers.

After purchasing the items she then found a booth with various ribbons and laces and threads and purchased some to go with the fabrics so that she could make herself, Aladdin and his little friend Morg some nice clothing for special occasions. She also found some oranges and pears and figs and plums for sale that she just couldn't pass up and by the time she returned to the inn, both of her arms were piled high with all kinds of neat stuff to either work with/give away as gifts or share with the kids.

And though she was loath to admit it, she had bought a few things for the oaf and his two friends as well.

Walking up the steps, she didn't see the young red haired man and the blond in the hallway. So to say that she was more than a little bit startled to hear someone call out, "Lady Shion!" mere moments before her stuff was taken from her, would be a bit of an understatement.

Blinking when she found herself suddenly holding air, she paused in mid step to look up at the red haired man. Turns out that he and his friend had both snatched her stuff from her hands and now were waiting to see what she would do.

Ja'far offered her a kind half smile and then said, "Sorry to simply take these from your hands in such a manner, my lady. But you really looked as if you could use the help... Um, were you taking these to Aladdin's room?"

"Sure." She said in in an awkward sounding tone. As if she were uncomfortable with being close to them. Ja'far offered her an encouraging smile while he tucked away the little bit of information in the back of his mind and then started walking as she began to move down the hall again.

Once the three were at Aladdin's room, Shion opened the door for the two men in an effort to be polite and received odd looks from them both. "Please, m'lady. You first. You are a Queen, and of a higher station than us after all." Ja'far said wondering why she was just standing there holding the door.

Shion scrunched up her nose a little bit and then huffed and moved away from the door and without any warning at all placed a hand at the small of Ja'far's back and one on Masrur's own and _pushed_ them both through the door muttering a few choice oaths beneath her breath as she did so.

"My lady!" Ja'far said, his tone scandalized by her language and her utter lack of propriety concerning her station.

"Oh shush." She growled at him causing him to snap his mouth shut. Once inside the room, Masrur laid his half of the items that she had returned with on Aladdin's bed and waited for Ja'far to do so. He suddenly felt that insane need to flee from the woman's presence. Which was more than a little bit odd for him since she didn't really seem all that threatening at the moment.

"But my lady, we aren't supposed to walk ahead of royalty!" Ja'far whined.

"Last time I checked the two of you were people, not...well..._non people_. And there is such a thing as equality for all. No one, not even royals are above you. Now stop whining and gimme a second to find the stuff that I bought for you two and you're oafish friend." She said as she gently nudged him aside and then began to go through her things as Ja'far asked.

"Y-You bought us something?"

"Yeah..." She said with a frown, not botching to look at either of them. "Not too sure that the two of you have noticed yet. But I'm not much of a social person. I'm too aggressive to be around normal people too often. But it doesn't mean that I'm a bad person anymore than you guys are. And you have been watching my kid. Even if he was exposed to unnecessary danger. Ah! Here they are." She said excitedly as she found the items and picked them up and then straightened her spine and turned to them with a grin and held out several clothe wrapped packages and jeweled daggers.

Hesitating, both men reached out to take the packages and dagger's from her, their curiosity piqued by the fact that she had gone out of her way to even bother to get them gifts.

Slowly opening their packages, they held up the breathtakingly colorful, embroidered pieces of linen and studied them. Ja'far's was a nice royal blue and gold. While Masrur's was a fetching cream color with red and gold thread embroidery along the hem and sleeves.

Once they finished examining the pieces, they laid them aside to examine the daggers. Noting that they were very nice pieces too. Ja'far's was studded with diamonds and emeralds while his was studded with diamonds and rubies.

All in all they were very flattering pieces. And while the two generals liked them well enough, they were hesitant to take them, even if they were gifts. They weren't sure how Sinbad would react to them receiving such fine gifts.

Especially since he had expressed an interest in marrying the woman.

"They're very fine gifts my lady but-"

She tilted her head to the side a little bit and looked at them both strangely before something close to alarm flickered in her expression and she quickly grabbed them both and shoved them behind her and threw up a barrier mere moments before half of the bedroom wall exploded, sending pieces of broken stone of all sizes raining down on her while the two of them remained safe.

"Lady Shion!" Masrur shouted in alarm as the woman was hit in the shoulder by a particularly big piece of rock and he heard a sickening snap and a grunt of pain.

"My lady!" Ja'far said as he smacked at the barrier in an effort to test it's strength once it looked as if whatever had happened to the wall was finished. However Shion lifted a finger to her lips in a shushing motion to indicate silence. The two exchanged troubled looks with each other as she gave the dust from the wall her undivided attention as they made out the vague shadowy figures of several people using it to hide themselves.

Not that it worked on Masrur or himself. And from the looks of things- the tactic hadn't really worked on Shion either.

"My lady- you need to leave." Ja'far said in a hushed panicked tone. Worried that the woman would get herself injured or worse if she didn't run. After all, he and Masrur were specially trained fighters. And...well to their knowledge- she wasn't.

"I'm not running." Shion said back in a stubborn tone as she reached behind her back and pulled the same wicked looking dagger that she'd pulled on them this morning when they had startled her awake, out.

"B-But you're injured!" Ja'far protested in horror. His eyes on the woman's injured arm. The bone was broken if he wasn't mistaken. He could tell from the way that her arm was hanging at her side that she wouldn't be able to use it if she did fight. Which only increased the odds of her suffering a more lethal injury.

Her turquoise eyes flickered in his direction for a moment, mirth dancing in her gaze as she muttered, "You worry too much, man. I've had far worse than a measly broken arm before and still fought."

"B-But-"

She put a finger against her lips again and he fell silent just in time to hear menacing laughter from whoever the people about to attack them.

"Oooh, _I-ch-igo_. Come out and play." One of them called out, eliciting more laughter from his friends. Something dangerous flickered in Shion's expression. Anger? No. Fury, maybe? No that wasn't it either.

It was nothing less than _murderous_ rage.

"I thought that I told you losers not to bother me again." Shion called out a second before she bent down low enough to conceal herself among the dust still hanging in their air and then vanished from their sight. Leaving Masrur and Ja'far to _gape_ after her.


	5. Chapter 5

Everything happened/ended so quickly that neither man could figure out what had really gone on. All they knew was that there had been a lightening quick movement just beyond the dust cloud and two bodies suddenly hit the floor. Another movement, and a person cried out and a fourth one- a man was savagely _thrown_ across the room and slammed into the far wall with such force that he slumped to the floor unconscious. As Shion walked out of the small cloud and then took a moment to scrutinize her handy work, noting that the three at her feet were dead and then hummed as she dropped the barrier that had held them in place and moved over to the fallen man against the wall.

"Lady Shion?! Are you alright? Are you injured?" Ja'far asked anxiously as he walked over to the woman and examined her for a moment while Masrur snuck up behind her and did his own cursory look over. Before leaning down to take a tentative, and subtle sniff of her person since his eyes couldn't really detect anything wrong with her and then moved back with a frown when he smelled nothing but...oranges and thunderstorms?

That wasn't right.

Females usually smelled sweet like a combination of honey, milk and flowers. He'd never smelled a human female that carried the scent of fruit and thunderstorms before. It simply wasn't normal to him.

"I'm fine, Ja'far." She muttered absently as she looked the fallen man over and frowned when she realized that he was one of the men that had followed her earlier when she had been in the market. Which _explained_ his presence somewhat.

But not the reason _how_ one of his friends knew her real name.

"How is you're arm?" Masrur asked after several heartbeats of silence. His ruby colored eyes staring at her broken arm like he expected it to fall off or something.

"My arm is fine. Throbs a little bit, but not much else. I can't do a whole lot with the area close to my shoulder, but I can at least still use my hand without too much trouble. I'll fix it in a little bit so that it'll heal. In the meantime... I need to wake this guy up and ask him a few things."

"Let Ja'far wrap you're arm," Masrur said as he bent down and grabbed the guy by the front of his shirt and yanked him up off of the floor and put him over one of his shoulders. "Once Ja'far is done helping with you're arm, he can bring you to me and I'll interrogate the guy for you."

"Huh?" Was all that she could manage to say as the red head made for the door and slipped through it before she could do more than gawk at his back. After he was gone, she turned to Ja'far and asked, "W-What the hell just happened?"

Ja'far merely shook his head in bemusement and grabbed her good hand and then forced her across the room into the large wing backed chair that Sinbad had slept in the previous night and then went about checking her arm.

Sure enough, he had been right in his earlier assessment of her injury. The damned thing was broken, but the bone wasn't snapped all the way through which was probably why the bone hadn't pierced through her skin as of yet. The wrong movement and amount of pressure would finish the job. But in the meantime, he said a small prayer of thanks to the gods for not having to reset the bones.

As it was, he'd just have to wrap the injured area carefully and maybe make a sling for her to use for a few weeks until it healed. The bone aside, she also had a terrible green-black-ish-blue bruise that he knew _had_ to be painful. At least in some small degree.

"Are you sure that you aren't in any pain?" He asked worriedly. He knew from personal experience that such injuries could be difficult and very painful to manage depending on one's pain threshold. And there was something nagging at him about the way that she didn't seem to be reacting any to the injuries.

"I'm fine. Like I said, I've had much worse before." She muttered as she rested her head back against the back of the chair, her eyes watching his every move almost...warily? _No that can't be right._ Ja'far thought to himself with a firm shake of his head. What reason would she have to be wary of _him_?

Still...he couldn't seem to shake the feeling that she was for some reason. Though he didn't bother mentioning his suspicions for the moment as he finished wrapping her arm and fixing a sling for her and gently helped her place her arm in it so that she wouldn't have to struggle with trying to lift it on her own.

With the bone near her shoulder being broken, her range of movement was going to be poor until the bone knit back together completely.

"There. All done." He said once her arm was in place.

She looked down at his work for a moment, seeming to study it before nodding her head. "So it is. Thank you."

"You're welcome Lady Shion."

"Could you please drop the 'lady' thing?" She asked in a tired tone that had him blinking at her. Not really knowing how to react to her question. On one hand it was nice to come across another person who didn't care so much about the stiffness of formality. And on the other hand, he wanted to box her ears for acting so unbecoming of her title.

Lord knew that he'd certainly boxed Sinbad's ears often enough for acting unbecoming of his own title. The man was an absolute menace when he was left to his own vices. Speaking of- he wondered if maybe he should warn Shion of Sinbad's latest scheme?

But then wondered if it would be seen as a betrayal/act of treason if he did so. Sinbad was his friend as well as his king, after all. His loyalty to him ran deep. But at the same time, he didn't like, care for, or even approve of Sinbad's motives for his latest scheme.

Especially when Shion and Aladdin could wind up suffering for it later on.

"Could you take me to you're friend? I want to talk to that guy." Shion said, looking almost anxious to him.

"Yes of course. Follow me." Ja'far said politely as he stood up off of the floor and then moved towards the door and opened it for her. She eyed him oddly. Sort of like before and grabbed his hand in her own and pulled him out the door as she stepped out.

It was still a far cry from proper behavior due to her station, but at the same time- it was a bit better too. Once out the door, she released him and then stood there and waited patiently for him to lead the way.

When they reached the room that Masrur and the man was in, they walked in on the fanalis pacing back and forth like an angry tiger in front of the chair that the man had been tied to. His eerie red eyes locked on the unconscious man's face, his gaze a touch more predatory than usual.

The man stopped pacing as soon as he smelled them enter the room and cast a curious glance towards the two, noting that Shion had come with Ja'far.

"Masrur? Are you alright?" The smaller man asked.

"He's fine. His instincts are simply riding him at the moment," Shion said gently as she brushed by the blond and walked over to him and stopped just a hairs breath from him and tilted her head back a little bit to look at his face before asking him, "What set you off?"

Masrur tried to think of how to answer her, but couldn't seem to find the words at the moment since there were several things that had agitated him to this point. One was her scent.

It was...strange to be fixated on it, he supposed. But she didn't smell_ right_ or _natural_ to him and it was upsetting to him. Another was the fact that she had dealt with the danger of the attack on her own. He was a tad bit upset about being trapped in a barrier and protected while she fought.

Again, it was strange that he was fixated on that. But he couldn't exactly help it given the fact that she had been injured. Even if it was slight and she would heal with no real problems. The idea of her becoming terribly scarred or even maimed because of her misguided belief that she had felt that she had to protect him and Ja'far made him want someone's _blood_.

And then there was her presence here, now. He knew that she wanted to ask the man some questions, but he and Ja'far specialized at interrogation and torture.

And such things were nothing that a female- even a warrior one- should witness. And he needed to protect her from that.

"You need to leave." He finally said, his voice a rumbling growl. She blinked at him for a moment, flinching a tad bit at his words, her expression akin to shocked astonishment. Sort of like the expression a woman got when a man hit her. The fanalis noted absently with an inward cringe.

He'd have to apologize to her for that later. But...he wouldn't be able to do his job if she didn't leave.

"No." It was his turn to blink at her this time. His expression incredulous. "I'm not leaving. I have questions and I intend to get them one way or another."


	6. Chapter 6

To say that Masrur was pissed about being defied by Shion, would be a gross understatement. The fanilis was damned near _livid_ with outrage at being defied. So much so that he hadn't been able to stop the loud, rumbling, feral sounding growl that escaped his throat as he peeled his lips back from his teeth and _snarled_ in warning.

Not that Shion payed any attention to him or his anger.

The woman didn't seem to care a whit that she had pissed him off. Things got so bad with the red headed man that Ja'far had to firmly place himself between the fanilis and the woman just to keep him from pouncing on her and forcing her to _submit_ to him.

"Shion, you really should go." Ja'far said nervously as he put his hands up to push at Masrur's chest when the man tried to push him back just so that he could get to her.

She sighed and looked over her shoulder at the two men and then turned and muttered something in a foreign language, and before either man realized what had was happening- they both fell to the floor sound asleep thanks to the kido that she had just used on them.

Finally leaving her alone to her task without having to worry about being overheard.

The interrogation went about as well as could be expected once she woke the man up. His startled scream, had been enough to almost make her jump. The foul, and angrily spoke oaths and threats that spilled from his lips had been expected.

Maybe even a little bit warranted given how she had woken him up by taking an empty burlap sack, wet it, and then twisted it into a tight coil and snapped him right on the dick with it.

The sharp snap that the burlap had made upon contact with his sensitive man bit's had brought about a slight cringe of sympathy as she thought to herself, _That could have gone better. _

Followed by, _I need to remember that snapping men on the dicks with wet burlap is cruel and inhumane. _Which then got filed away in the back of her mind as she got to work on the guy once he finally settled down and gave her his undivided attention when she held the burlap sack up in a threatening manner before asking her first question.

How did he/his friends know her name?

* * *

Barely an hour later, Ichigo walked out of the room after having finished interrogating the guy. Her expression was carefully masked, her power tightly leashed- despite the fact that she wanted oh so very much to _destroy_ something.

The guy and his friends had been sent by the secret organization, Al-Thamen.

Turns out that they knew that she was out in the world again and were eager to get their hands on her and her mysterious power.

Snorting softly as she thought about her last run in with the dark priests and priestesses, she wondered if they had managed to rebuild the ranks that she had devastated. But then decided that it didn't really matter. She killed more than _half_ of their people once for coming after her- nothing would stop her from doing so for a second time if they got too close to her and her kid again.

And though that sort of explained some things. The guy hadn't been able to tell her how he and his pals had found her. Which was...worrisome. They could have used anything from a spell to a magical item to a long lost personal item to somehow track her down to the inn.

Which meant that she would have to search the bodies of the dead men and then get rid of them somewhere before Aladdin returned.

She didn't want him worrying over something that she could handle on her own.

Walking back to Aladdin's room, she entered quietly, intent on finishing up what was left of her task only to find... The wall had been mysteriously fixed where it had exploded, the room had been straightened up and the bodies- oh dear god- _the bodies were gone! _

And sitting very calmly in the same wing backed chair as before; was the oaf.

"Good afternoon Queen Shion." He greeted her warmly failing to notice, or maybe it was more like he didn't understand her sudden irrational surge of irritation. It wasn't like it mattered anyways. Not when she was a heartbeat away form stinging the stupid jackass up by his-

"Mama!" Aladdin shouted from somewhere out in the hall nearly causing her to jump as the door was flung open and the boy threw himself at her without really _seeing_ her. His small body hit her hard enough to make her stagger back a little bit. Her injured arm came out of the sling in an subconscious move to grab him- eliciting a half audible hiss of pain from her as she settled her hands on his thin shoulders and tried to hide the shudder that wracked her body from the oaf's keen eyes.

Too bad that the man had noticed her arm was hurt before Aladdin had shown up or she might have actually managed to hide her pain from them both.

Or at leas that was what she was thinking before she heard Ja'far's voice from down the hall. "Where is she?!" Followed by a very loud, angry sounding bestial growl from what she could only assume was his red haired friend.

"Oh god." She muttered, feeling the beginning of a really bad headache coming on as she asked if Aladdin had fun while he was out with Morg. The boy grinned at her and started to chatter away about anything and everything that he'd seen as the two generals entered the room and balked for a moment when they saw that not only was their king present but Aladdin was as well.

Shion glanced up from Aladdin to look at them for a moment, her expression slightly apologetic before she looked away from them again to pay closer attention to her son as Sinbad slowly stood up and walked over to them and asked them in a hushed tone if everything was alright.

The two didn't say anything right away. They would have felt badly if Aladdin accidentally overheard them speaking about his mother to their king. Especially in regards to the attack on the inn.

So Ja'far merely told the man that they would speak about it later and received a nod from Sinbad before he finally clapped his hands together, causing Aladdin to stutter a little bit before falling silent.

"Lunch should be served soon. Would you and you're mother like to dine with us again?" He asked Aladdin, knowing that he would be the fastest way to get to Shion. Aladdin considered his question before then turning to his mother and asking if it was okay to have lunch with them.

Sinbad and his friends noticed the oddly resigned look that crossed Shion's face before she nodded her head in acceptance knowing that there would be no way around the invite even if she said no. Aladdin was simply too attached to the men to allow her to avoid them for very long.

Sinbad smiled at the two and then told them that he needed a word with his friends and that he'd see them soon. And to pass the invitation on to Morg if they saw her and the left the room with Ja'far and Masrur in tow.


	7. Chapter 7

**This is technically a filler chap. So it'll be shorter than the others. **

**Especially since I was working on this chap and another story at the same time. **

**For anyone who likes bleach, Ichigo, Chad and OC's I have a threesome story that's slightly darkish.**

* * *

Once the three were back in Sinbad's room, the man asked. "So do either of you want to tell me what exactly happened? And don't bother telling me that you got attacked, I already know that much. What I want to know is why Aladdin's room was in such disarray and why there were dead bodies there?"

"Um...well…" Ja'far said. Sounding as if he were uncomfortable. Which he probably was since Sinbad was looking at him like a shark looking at it's prey. Which was not good. _Not good at all_.

"We weren't the ones who were attacked, Sin. Lady Shion was." Masrur said.

Sinbad was silent as he glanced between the two men over for a moment before simply saying, "Go on." Urging the two of them to tell him everything that they could think of about what had occurred.

It took the better part of ten minutes to learn everything from beginning to end. And at least another thirty minutes to shift through some details concerning the incident. But finally he seemed to get the picture.

And to say that he was displeased, would be an understatement of _epic_ proportions. He was more than just displeased, he was flat out_ furious_ that someone had dared to attack Shion. Especially since he felt that he had a claim on the girl and her son.

"Did she interrogate the man?"

"We don't know," Masrur said darkly. He was still upset about the fact that the girl had refused to leave the room so that he and Ja'far could interrogate the man for her. "When we woke up, the guy was still unconscious and she was gone."

"I see. And you didn't see any markings or-"

"No, my king."

"Then there's no way to know whether or not she actually spoke to the guy?"

"I'm afraid not. At least not at the moment." Ja'far said in a worried tone. Sinbad sighed and reached up to rub at the skin of his forehead for a moment. He was beginning to get a headache just thinking about the incident and the implications of it.

"Very well. Is there anything else that you'd like to report?"

"Lady Shion's real name..." Masrur muttered. Watching as his king perked up a little bit and waited for him to speak her true name. Rolling his red eyes at his king's childish anticipation, he went on to tell him her name. Or at least what he suspected it was anyways. And watched Sinbad's eyes light up strangely before he dismissed them so that he could prepare for lunch with the girl and the others.

* * *

"Lady Shion!" Morg cried the moment that she entered Aladdin's room to collect him and his mother and found the older girl with Aladdin curled up in her lap and one of her arms in a _sling_, indicating an injury of some kind. "What happened to your arm?" The young fanalis asked as she walked over to examine her friends mother in an effort to see for herself how bad the injury was.

"Hello Morgiana. How was you're outing?" Shion asked, making an attempt to ignore the question about her injury.

"Not as productive as you're day, apparently," The girl said as she carefully reached out and took the older girl's wrist in her hand and then took a moment to run her hands along the length of her arm, and flinched when she found the reason why Shion's arm was in a sling. "How did you get hurt anyways?" She asked again.

"Oh. I got hit by a rock." Shion muttered as the girl slowly released her arm once it was back in place in the sling.

"A rock? How did you even get hit by a rock?" The girl asked curiously as she tilted her head to the side a little bit and stared at her, hard.

"Oh, I left the inn earlier to do some shopping in the market and some jerk threw a rock at someone and hit me instead." Shion said, deciding that it was for the best not to say anything at the moment about the attack earlier. She didn't want to worry Aladdin and his friend any.

Especially since they wouldn't be able to do anything about what had happened.

The younger girl let out a angry sounding growl and started to get up but Shion stopped her from going out to _hunt_ the 'jerk' down by simply saying, "It was an accident Morgiana. And he didn't mean to hit me with it. I just...happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I'd still feel better if I could find him and punch him." The girl muttered sullenly. Shion laughed softly at the young girl's words and then reached out and gently ruffled her shoulder length red hair.

"Don't worry about that any, I made sure that he was very, _very_ sorry for hitting me with the rock. I doubt that he'll do it again anytime soon." Shion said in a coaxing manner as the girl pouted a little bit.

She could understand the girl's feelings, really she could. But violence wasn't the answer to everything.

Besides, the guy that had been part of the earlier attack _was_ very sorry for having hurt her. Mostly because he thought that his balls were going to fall off if they got snapped by another burlap sack, but her point still stood.

"Oh! That reminds me- Sinbad wanted us all to eat lunch with him shortly and wanted us to pass the message along. Will you join us?" Shion asked. Morg blinked at her for a moment before slowly nodding her head as the older girl smiled at her.

"Great! I found some stuff for you and Aladdin while I was out earlier. Do you want to see it while we still have time?"

"Uh...s-sure." Morg said awkwardly as Shion grinned and then set Aladdin down so that she could show them the goodies that she had bought for them.


	8. Chapter 8

Shion put the finish and touches on Aladdin and Morgiana's new look- something that she'd practically bullied both kids into for her own warped amusement and then stepped back to admire the two. Aladdin looked so cute in his sapphire blue tunic, white pants and matching vest.

She'd even somehow managed to trim his hair a little bit with her one good hand, so that it wasn't quite so long and then put it up into a regal looking ponytail that she had brushed and teased mercilessly until the long blue-black strands fell in waves just passed the middle of his back.

And Morg looked quite cute too in her red and gold flower embroidered dress with her hair combed back and held in place by one of the jeweled hair combs that she had bought.

"You guys look so nice." She said with a grin as the kids both flushed and shifted around form foot to foot in an uncomfortable manner as they both stammered out a quiet thank you at the same exact moment that the door to the room opened and Ja'far peeked inside to announce that lunch would be served shortly.

He paused though as soon as he saw the kids, a small look of bemusement flitting across his face as Shion turned to look at him, her smile dimming somewhat.

He studied the girl for a moment, noting her expression with a small frown as he cleared his throat. "Lunch will be served shortly if the three of you want to go ahead and head to the dinning room."

"Thank you, Ja'far," Shion said politely, though her expression didn't change. She looked...for lack of a better word, _guarded. _"We'll be there shortly."

"Of course my lady." He said with a respectful bow before slowly backing out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

"Mama? Is everything okay?" Aladdin asked as soon as he was gone.

"Everything is fine." She assured him gently, not really wanting to explain the sudden shift in her mood upon having the man come in even for a moment. Taking a deep breath she held it for a moment and then exhaled as she raised a hand to run her fingers through her dark hair and then dropped her arm to her side again and looked at the kids. Morg had a questioning look on her face. As if she couldn't quite understand why she suddenly seemed to irritated. Whereas Aladdin's expression was calm and knowing.

She sometimes hated the fact that the boy she'd given birth too had inherited some of her latent psychic abilities. She hated it even more when he got that knowing look on his face.

It made her want to gnash her teeth and hiss at him like a cat because she didn't _like_ it when he peeked into her mind. Even if it was on accident, there were simply some things that a child like him shouldn't know of.

"Alright you two, lets go to the dinning room and show you guys off." She said after a moment or so.

"But mama, you aren't dressed yet." Aladdin started to argue when she cut him off at the knees.

"I have no one to impress, kid. I don't care if I look a mess or not. You two however kind of do. You befriended a king and his two generals, after all. If you go to eat with them looking like a couple of urchins, it might embarrass them. In the eyes of others, it would reflect poorly on them."

"Really?!" Both kids said in unison, their tones shocked. She smiled at them.

"Maybe a little bit."

"We didn't know that." Morg said thoughtfully.

"How come they didn't say anything mama?" Aladdin asked curiously as his mother moved up behind the two of them and slowly began to usher them both towards the door.

"They probably didn't say anything because they wanted to be polite and not hurt your feelings. Then again they also might not have said anything because they aren't sure if you want to keep traveling with them or not. They are sort of an unconventional lot, ya know."

"O-Oh." The two kids stammered out as she herded them down the hallway to the dinning room. Once they reached the dinning room, she ushered the two into the room where the king and his two generals were already waiting and watched silently as Aladdin grabbed Morg's hand and ran off to show the three their new clothes and such.

Sinbad and his friends all listened to the boy's excited chatter patiently as he showed off his new clothing and hair style and then spun Morg around in a small circle to show her new clothing and hair style off, eliciting a chuckles of amusement from the king and his friends as his mother walked over to the table and then slowly sat herself down.

"Well, lady Shion has done quite a good job fixing the two of you up." Sinbad said in approval as he cast the dark haired girl a slant eyed look. Wondering for a moment why she hadn't dressed herself up while she had been dressing the kids up, before quickly dismissing the idea since she didn't seem like the type of girl who cared overly much for her own appearance regardless of the company she kept.

"Yup," Aladdin chirped in agreement. "Mama likes dressing people up. Especially when she's decided that she's going to adopt them. And since she managed to dress Morgiana up- that means that she's my sister now!" Aladdin proclaimed happily, earning several comically shocked looks from Sinbad and his friends. Morginana blinked in bewilderment while Shion had been taking a drink of her wine and suddenly started choking upon hearing her son's words and had to quickly put her wineglass down as she tried to catch her breath.

"Mama!" Aladdin yelped in alarm and quickly moved to help the girl as Masrur got up and leaned across the table and thumped her on the back twice to help her.

Finally she took a big shuddering breath and slowly grabbed a napkin from the table and wiped at her mouth before tipping her head back some to thank the man while Aladdin hovered anxiously at her side. "Mama?"

"I'm alright, kid." She said as she reached out and patted him on the head before then pulling the chair next to her out and patting it to indicate that he should sit down. Once he was seated, Morgiana shyly pulled up the other seat next to her and sat down in it.

She wanted to ask the older girl if what Aladdin had said was true but she wasn't sure if she should or not. Lady Shion had seemed either startled or shocked by Aladdin's announcement a few moments prior. And she didn't want to make the older girl feel pressured.

But at the same time...she _really_ wanted to know if what Aladdin had said was true.

She thought that she might like being Aladdin's sister, and Shion's daughter.

Things were quiet up until after their food was served to them. After which Sinbad decided to start up conversation again. "So, Lady Shion- My generals told me that you've had quiet a productive day. What with being attacked here at the inn by a gang of... What were they exactly? Thieves? Hoodlums?"

If looks could kill, Shion's stare would have _smite_ the man a hundred times over. Ja'far and Masrur noted with a sliver of apprehension as the woman glared at their king and then said, "Mercenaries actually."

"Mercenaries." Sinbad repeated in an interested tone before then asking, "And what pray tell did they want?"

"It doesn't matter. I'll take care of the problem before I leave the city." She growled out before taking a bite of her food and swallowing it whole.

"Mama? Is something going on?" Aladdin asked innocently.

"It's nothing I want you and Morg to worry about." Shion said absently, her mind already going over various plans to retaliate against Al-Tharmen for their latest attempt to capture her.

"But-"

"No arguing Aladdin," Shion said curtly, "I don't want nor Morgiana anywhere near those people. Leave them to me and stay out of my affairs."

Aladdin was silent for a moment before then asking, "Are they bad people, mama?"

Shion sighed, wishing that she could strangle Sinbad for even mentioning the attack on her in the first place. Especially in the presence of the kids before replying, "Yes. They are very bad. That's why I don't want you or Morgiana anywhere near them. Do you both understand?"

Aladdin nodded his head and Morg reluctantly agreed as well.

Sinbad tried to talk to Shion a little bit more about what had happened, he even tried to tell her that he and his friends could help to protect her and the kids, but the girl shut him down and refused to speak anymore about it. And once lunch was finished, she sent Aladdin and Morgiana to either go play a game or try to do something fun and bond a little bit as siblings. Which startled Morgiana a little bit while it simply amused Aladdin.

Once they were gone she then turned to Sinbad again and asked him, "Are you insane or something?"

"No. I don't believe that I am. I was merely curious about what was going on."

"What's going on isn't something that you and you're friends should become _involved_ in," She chastised him, much to Sinbad's amazement. He hadn't had anyone chastise him since... Well- never mind, Ja'far tended to chastise him about his idiocies nearly every hour of every day. But for some strange reason his chastising him didn't shock him half as much as hearing it from- Shion. "It's dangerous and I don't want anyone needlessly getting dragged into things."

"That's understandable," Sinbad said. "However since you and you're kids..." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Are technically with us for the moment then you're safety is a concern of ours." He argued back.

"Of all the asinine, egotistical-" She growled before then hissing. "My safety isn't _anyone's_ concern. You want to help, then you can help me by keeping an eye on those two kids and keep them and yourselves out of harms way."

"I've never met someone so stubbornly set on throwing themselves in harms way as you are," Sinbad said, his temper starting to get the best of him a little bit. "Do you not fear being killed at all?"

"No, actually. I don't," She said angrily, watching as the man's eyes widened slightly. "I have no reason to fear being killed. Killing me is the least of my concerns when people want to covet me for other- more cruel reasons."

"And what exactly would those reasons be...Ichigo?"

She froze up, her face paling to a sickly white- and she looked at them with wide haunted eyes before snarling, _"Don't you dare_ _fucking call me that again." _And then got up and stormed out the room after tossing back a pissed sounding, "Idiot man! Someday someone's going to break that pretty face of yours for not minding you're damned business. Stupid, stupid man!" from over her shoulder. Which was followed by a loud scream of frustration once she was out in the hall.


	9. Chapter 9

"Well...that went...well." Sinbad said slowly, his mind going over everything that had just happened. "Though I don't know why she simply won't accept our help."

"She said that she doesn't fear death-"

"Yes. I heard," Sinbad said in an agitated tone before saying thoughtfully. "It's not good for someone not to fear death. It's certainly not normal."

"You don't think that she's trying to get herself killed, do you?" Ja'far questioned worriedly, knowing that if anything happened to the girl that Aladdin wouldn't handle her death very well. Not to mention how Morgiana would react now that Aladdin had mistakenly told the girl that his mother had adopted her.

As sweet as it was to tell her that, she now believed that she had a family. And that could prove to be a fatal error in the long run if anything happened to Shion.

Sinbad sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands before saying, "I don't know. We've never really dealt with someone who longed for death before. So I have trouble imagining someone with a young son- _especially_ one who is a magi, and very aware of the dangers of the world- _wanting_ to die. Aladdin said that she loved him, right?"

"Yes."

"Then if that's true, even the smallest degree- Then she may only still be alive now because of him."

"So...she isn't trying to get herself killed then?"

"I never said that. It's obvious that the girl has secrets and such. Maybe some of them simply weigh a little bit heavier on her conscience than others. But if she loves Aladdin like he says she does, then she must want to stick around and see him grow up..." Sinbad said before groaning and pulling at his hair in frustration.

_Damn the girl!_

Did she have no idea- or just not care- that she was causing trouble for them all?! He wondered before finally saying, "I guess that we'll just have to observe her and interfere whenever it becomes necessary. In the meantime, I want the two of you to keep an eye on her. If she leaves here, even to run an errand- either go with her or follow her and see what she is up too. I don't want any nasty surprises to sneak up on us."

"Yes, my king." The two men said in unison before they turned and left the room to go find the girl and make sure that she wasn't up to any mischief.

* * *

Shion paced back and forth on the roof of the inn trying to think of some way to work off some of her aggression. She flat out refused to go back into the inn within close proximity of the oaf- lest she give in to the temptation of _actually_ strangling him by his hair or something.

I mean, who the hell did the damned man think he was? Her lord and master?

She gave an unlady like snort. "Not bloody likely." Not even if he were the _last_ man on fucking earth.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she never noticed the door to the roof opening and the jerks two generals stepping outside to join her until one of them cleared his throat delicately to get her attention.

"Lady Shion?" She stopped pacing and jerked her head around to look at the two so quickly that her neck popped. Very loudly, causing her to yelp at the dull jolt of discomfort that shot down her spine as she reached up to rub her nape until the ache lessened.

"What?" She started to snap at the man, but caught herself and softened her tone. After all, just because she wanted to rend someone- mainly the blue haired fool of a menace- to shreds, didn't mean that she could take her anger out on them.

"Are you alright?" Ja'far asked in concern.

"No." She growled out as she resumed her restless pacing. "I need to go somewhere and do something for a little bit."

"Do something?" The man questioned curiously.

"Yes. It's either I leave for a little while and do something or I might actually _kill_ you're friend."

"That would be entertaining to see." Masrur muttered causing the girl to growl again before hissing,

"Oh yes, it would be terribly entertaining for me to lose my patience with him even more- rip his arms off and then _bludgeon_ him to death with one."

"I...would actually pay to see that." Ja'far said wryly. His mind already imagining how that would go as Masrur made a noncommittal sound of agreement.

"You're both crazy aren't you." Shion asked warily.

"No, no- I-It's just that the mental images alone are quite funny." Ja'far said with a small smile, earning a baffled look from the irked girl before she asked.

"You really think that would be funny?" She sounded as if the mere thought of doing what she had just threatened turned her stomach. The two men exchanged a look and then shrugged. " That is...beyond _disturbing_. You guys have obviously never seen someone get their arms ripped off before. Because it's not funny. That isn't anything that you can laugh about. It's slow and painful and you're flesh and bone are being forced apart in one of the most agonizing ways imaginable... You'd have to die from the shock of it happening before the blood loss caught up to you. And that's only if you're lucky."

"You sound as if you've seen such a thing up close before." Masrur said as he tilted his head a little bit and studied her.

She got a far away look on her face for several moments before finally seeming to return to herself and simply saying, "Something like that." As if that really told them anything aside from maybe she had or maybe she hadn't before she suddenly asked, "Aladdin offered to help you guys with the Fog Troupe right? Can you tell me why?"

The radical shift in conversation might have thrown the two of them a little bit if not for the fact that Sinbad often pulled the same stuff often. "He offered to help us apprehend the thieves in exchange for help finding a friend of his. Alibaba. Apparently he and Morg had both traveled here to find him."

"And did you help him find him?"

"Unknowingly, yes."

"What do you mean, unknowingly?"

"Alibaba turned out to be the leader of the Fog Troupe. When Aladdin found out...well...that was the same evening that you appeared. I guess you're presence has kept his mind off of things, but I know that he still misses Alibaba."

"Alright then. I know how I'm going to work off some of my aggression."

"Huh?"

"We're going to track the Troupe down and steal back everything that they've taken, and...remove this Alibaba person from their grasp."

_"Huh?!" _Ja'far and Masrur said in unison. The two were beginning to get a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs as the girl turned to them with a deceptively sweet smile and then started to rattle off a plan of action and gave them both a specific task.

All during which the two stood eerily still and silent and began to plot Sinbad's untimely demise for giving them their latest mission since it was becoming more and more apparent with each passing moment that the girl was _unhinged_.


End file.
